5 Ways to Get Headhunters to Come to You

Catching the attention of a headhunter can make all the difference in progressing within your profession. In the current global employment environment, it is truer than ever. Getting their attention is not as simple as sitting back and waiting for them to come to you however. Follow these five methods to enhance your professional prospects and get on the radar of corporate recruiters.

1). Online Resume

Public exposure is key when trying to gain a headhunter’s notice; the internet provides the largest scope to accomplishing this. Place your resume on relevant forums and networks; it’s important to find the right job board for you, depending on your desired industry, location and experience. If you do elect to place a resume online be prepared to receive a number of calls and emails. A myriad of recruiters scour online resources every day, and many of the lesser tier recruiters may contact you for openings not relevant to your search. To avoid irrelevant professional offers, try to get the right keywords in your resume; this can aid with indexing and technological profiling. Also, it may also be beneficial to activate the anonymous name and contact details setting, as this will enable you to respond only to the relevant enquires.

Make an effort to get yourself involved in the internal recruitment within your own company. You will then be working with Human Resources, who will naturally introduce you to the headhunters they utilise. This can be a sensible subject for the headhunter, but if you send out the right signals, the recruiter will likely probe you on your career potential. Once a recruiter knows you and recognises your value, they will be able to help you in future ventures.

Even if some headhunters are wary of poaching individuals from a client company, recruiting internally can still be very useful. It can provide an invaluable experience to understand how headhunters operate and how the corporate hiring process functions in general. This knowledge can then be used to formulate further efforts.

3). Write to demonstrate expertise

Demonstrate your acumen in your particular industry. One of the ways to accomplish this is to write a published piece in your favourite professional periodical. You can also consider writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, writing a weekly post on your company’s own website or blog, or creating your own blog. The goal here is to write something that will get read by the right people- in this case headhunters. Make sure that you are credited with your name, title and organisation at the end of your literature to make it simple for the recruiter to look you up for future reference.

4). Speak to gain their attention

Visibility can also be garnered without the use of literature. You can also volunteer to give breakout sessions at professional or industry conferences. Next time you go to an industry event, try to receive a speaking slot; this can be either as giving a speech or just participating in an open forum. No matter the type of format, do whatever it takes to get listed in the event’s directory. Recruiters are known to go to these functions and to make contact with easily recognisable people in the industry; public speaking is an excellent way of being included on their radar.

Recruiters use social media like LinkedIn and Twitter more than emails. Research even suggests that they probably click on the LinkedIn site about a hundred times per day minimum. By just being active on such websites, you’ll be able to be found by recruiters. Make sure you use the right keywords on your profile and to have an active presence within groups and events. By doing so, you’ll be targeted very quickly.

Make sure your professional profiles are strong enough to present to your connections when you do finally connect with them. Upload your CV to TeleportMyJob and you can receive a free CV appraisal and LinkedIn Profile appraisal.